Map of The Netherlands | Geography | People | Government | Economy | Energy | Communication
Military | Transportation | Transnational Issues | Year: Guide198919901991199219931994199519961997199819992000200120022003200420052006200720082009201020112012201320142015201620172018201920202021202220232024 | More stats

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Background: The Kingdom of the Netherlands was formed in 1815. In 1830 Belgium seceded and formed a separate kingdom. The Netherlands remained neutral in World War I but suffered a brutal invasion and occupation by Germany in World War II. A modern industrialized nation the Netherlands is also a large exporter of agricultural products. The country was a founding member of NATO and the EC and participated in the introduction of the euro in 1999.


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Location: Western Europe, bordering the North Sea, between Belgium and Germany

Geographic coordinates: 52 30 N, 5 45 E

Map reference: Europe

Area
Total: 41,532 km²
Land: 33,889 km²
Water: 7,643 km²
Comparative: slightly less than twice the size of New Jersey

Land boundaries
Total: 1,027 km
Border countries: (2) Belgium 450 km; , Germany 577 km

Coastline: 451 km

Maritime claims
Exclusive fishing zone: 200 nm
Territorial sea: 12 nm

Climate: temperate; marine; cool summers and mild winters

Terrain: mostly coastal lowland and reclaimed land (polders; some hills in southeast

Elevation
Extremes lowest point: Prins Alexanderpolder -7 m
Extremes highest point: Vaalserberg 321 m

Natural resources: natural gas, petroleum, fertile soil

Land use
Arable land: 25%
Permanent crops: 3%
Permanent pastures: 25%
Forests and woodland: 8%
Other: 39% (1996 est.)

Irrigated land: 6,000 km² (1996 est.)

Major rivers

Major watersheds area km²

Total water withdrawal

Total renewable water resources

Natural hazards: the extensive system of dikes and dams protects nearly one-half of the total area from being flooded

Geography
Note: located at mouths of three major European rivers (Rhine, Maas or Meuse, and Schelde)


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Population: 15,807,641 (July 1999 est.)
Growth rate: 0.47% (1999 est.)
Below poverty line: NA%

Nationality
Noun: Dutchman(men), Dutchwoman(women)
Adjective: Dutch

Ethnic groups: Dutch 94%, Moroccans, Turks, and other 6% (1988)

Languages: Dutch

Religions: Roman Catholic 34%, Protestant 25%, Muslim 3%, other 2%, unaffiliated 36% (1991)

Demographic profile

Age structure
0-14 years: 18% (male 1,475,606; female 1,410,088)
15-64 years: 68% (male 5,482,193; female 5,288,948)
65 years and over: 14% (male 875,847; female 1,274,959) (1999 est.)

Dependency ratios

Median age

Population growth rate: 0.47% (1999 est.)

Birth rate: 11.36 births/1000 population (1999 est.)

Death rate: 8.69 deaths/1000 population (1999 est.)

Net migration rate: 1.99 migrant(s)/1000 population (1999 est.)

Population distribution

Urbanization

Major urban areas

Environment
Current issues: water pollution in the form of heavy metals, organic compounds, and nutrients such as nitrates and phosphates; air pollution from vehicles and refining activities; acid rain
International agreements party to: Air Pollution, Air Pollution-Nitrogen Oxides, Air Pollution-Sulphur 85, Air Pollution-Sulphur 94, Air Pollution-Volatile Organic Compounds, Antarctic-Environmental Protocol, Antarctic Treaty, Biodiversity, Climate Change, Desertification, Endangered Species, Environmental Modification, Hazardous Wastes, Law of the Sea, Marine Dumping, Marine Life Conservation, Nuclear Test Ban, Ozone Layer Protection, Ship Pollution, Tropical Timber 83, Tropical Timber 94, Wetlands, Whaling
International agreements signed but not ratified: Air Pollution-Persistent Organic Pollutants, Biodiversity, Climate Change-Kyoto Protocol

Air pollutants

Sex ratio
At birth: 1.05 male(s)/female
Under 15 years: 1.05 male(s)/female
15-64 years: 1.04 male(s)/female
65 years and over: 0.69 male(s)/female
Total population: 0.98 male(s)/female (1999 est.)

Mothers mean age at first birth

Maternal mortality ratio

Infant mortality rate: 5.11 deaths/1000 live births (1999 est.)

Life expectancy at birth
Total population: 78.15 years
Male: 75.28 years
Female: 81.17 years (1999 est.)

Total fertility rate: 1.49 children born/woman (1999 est.)

Contraceptive prevalence rate

Drinking water source

Current health expenditure

Physicians density

Hospital bed density

Sanitation facility access

Hiv/Aids

Major infectious diseases

Obesity adult prevalence rate

Alcohol consumption

Tobacco use

Children under the age of 5 years underweight

Education expenditures

Literacy
Definition: age 15 and over can read and write
Total population: 99% (1979 est.)
Male: NA%
Female: NA%

School life expectancy primary to tertiary education

Youth unemployment


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Country name
Conventional long form: Kingdom of the Netherlands
Conventional short form: Netherlands
Local long form: Koninkrijk der Nederlanden
Local short form: Nederland

Government type: constitutional monarchy

Capital: Amsterdam; The Hague is the seat of government

Administrative divisions: 12 provinces (provincien, singular_provincie; Drenthe, Flevoland, Friesland, Gelderland, Groningen, Limburg, Noord-Brabant, Noord-Holland, Overijssel, Utrecht, Zeeland, Zuid-Holland

Dependent areas: (2) Aruba, Netherlands Antilles

Independence: 1579 (from Spain)

National holiday: Queen's Day, 30 April

Constitution: adopted 1814; amended many times, last time 17 February 1983

Legal system: civil law system incorporating French penal theory; constitution does not permit judicial review of acts of the States General; accepts compulsory ICJ jurisdiction, with reservations

International law organization participation

Citizenship

Suffrage: 18 years of age; universal

Executive branch
Chief of state: Queen BEATRIX Wilhelmina Armgard (since 30 April 1980); Heir Apparent WILLEM-ALEXANDER (born 27 April 1967), Prince of Orange, son of the monarch
Head of government: Prime Minister Wim KOK (since 22 August 1994) and Vice Prime Ministers Annemarie JORRITSMA (since 3 August 1998) and Els BORST-EILERS (since 3 August 1998)
Cabinet: Cabinet appointed by the monarch
Elections: none; the monarch is hereditary; following Second Chamber elections, the leader of the majority party or leader of a majority coalition is usually appointed prime minister by the monarch; vice prime ministers appointed by the monarch
Note: there is a Council of State composed of the monarch, heir apparent, and councillors consulted by the executive on legislative and administrative policy

Legislative branch: bicameral States General or Staten Generaal consists of the First Chamber or Eerste Kamer (75 seats; members indirectly elected by the country's 12 provincial councils for four-year terms) and the Second Chamber or Tweede Kamer (150 seats; members directly elected by popular vote to serve four-year terms)
Elections: First Chamber_last held 9 June 1995 (next to be held 25 May 1999); Second Chamber_last held 6 May 1998 (next to be held May 2002)
Election results: First Chamber_percent of vote by party_NA; seats by party_VVD 23, CDA 19, PvdA 14, D'66 7, other 12; Second Chamber_percent of vote by party_PvdA 30.0%, VVD 25.3%, CDA 19.3%, D'66 9.3%, other 16.1%; seats by party_PvdA 45, VVD 38, CDA 29, D'66 14, other 24

Judicial branch: Supreme Court or Hoge Raad, justices are nominated for life by the monarch

Political parties and leaders

International organization participation: AfDB, AsDB, Australia Group, Benelux, BIS, CCC, CE, CERN, EAPC, EBRD, ECE, ECLAC, EIB, EMU, ESA, ESCAP, EU, FAO, G-10, IADB, IAEA, IBRD, ICAO, ICC, ICFTU, ICRM, IDA, IEA, IFAD, IFC, IFRCS, IHO, ILO, IMF, IMO, Inmarsat, Intelsat, Interpol, IOC, IOM, ISO, ITU, MTCR, NAM (guest), NATO, NEA, NSG, OAS (observer), OECD, OPCW, OSCE, PCA, UN, UNCTAD, UNESCO, UNHCR, UNIDO, UNMIBH, UNTSO, UNU, UPU, WCL, WEU, WHO, WIPO, WMO, WToO, WTrO, ZC

Diplomatic representation
In the us chief of mission: Ambassador Joris M. VOS
In the us chancery: 4,200 Linnean Avenue NW, Washington, DC 20,008
In the us telephone: [1] (202) 244-5,300
In the us FAX: [1] (202) 362-3,430
In the us consulates general: Chicago, Houston, Los Angeles, New York
From the us chief of mission: Ambassador Cynthia P. SCHNEIDER
From the us embassy: Lange Voorhout 102, 2,514 EJ, The Hague
From the us mailing address: PSC 71, Box 1000, APO AE 9,715
From the us telephone: [31] (70) 310-9,209
From the us FAX: [31] (70) 361-4,688
From the us consulates general: Amsterdam

Flag description: three equal horizontal bands of red (top), white, and blue; similar to the flag of Luxembourg, which uses a lighter blue and is longer

National symbols

National anthem

National heritage


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Economy overview: This prosperous and open economy is based on private enterprise with the government's presence felt in many aspects of the economy. Industrial activity features food processing, petroleum refining, and metalworking. The highly mechanized agricultural sector employs only 4% of the labor force, but provides large surpluses for export and the domestic food-processing industry. As a result, the Netherlands ranks third worldwide in value of agricultural exports, behind the US and France. Sharp cuts in subsidy and social security spending since the 1980s helped the Dutch achieve sustained economic growth combined with falling unemployment and moderate inflation. The economy achieved a strong 3.7% growth in 1998; a dip in the business cycle probably will cause the economy to decelerate to slightly over 2% growth in 1999. Unemployment in 1999 is expected to be less than 5% of the labor force, and inflation probably will decline. The Dutch joined the first wave of 11 EU countries launching the euro system on 1 January 1999.

Real gdp purchasing power parity

Real gdp growth rate: 3.7% (1998 est.)

Real gdp per capita: purchasing power parity: $22,200 (1998 est.)

Gross national saving

Gdp composition by end use

Gdp composition by sector of origin
Agriculture: 3.2%
Industry: 27.5%
Services: 69.3% (1998 est.)

Agriculture products: grains, potatoes, sugar beets, fruits, vegetables; livestock

Industries: agroindustries, metal and engineering products, electrical machinery and equipment, chemicals, petroleum, construction, microelectronics, fishing

Industrial production growth rate: 2.4% (1998)

Labor force: 7 million (1998 est.)
By occupation services: 73%
By occupation manufacturing and construction: 23%
By occupation agriculture: 4% (1998 est.)

Unemployment rate: 4.1% (1998 est.)

Youth unemployment

Population below poverty line: NA%

Gini index

Household income or consumption by percentage share

Distribution of family income gini index

Budget
Revenues: $163 billion
Expenditures: $170 billion, including capital expenditures of $N/A (1999 est.)

Taxes and other revenues

Public debt

Revenue

Fiscal year: calendar year

Inflation rate consumer prices

Central bank discount rate

Commercial bank prime lending rate

Stock of narrow money

Stock of broad money

Stock of domestic credit

Market value of publicly traded shares

Current account balance

Exports: $160 billion (f.o.b., 1998)
Commodities: machinery and equipment, chemicals, fuels, food and tobacco
Partners: EU 78% (Germany 27%, Belgium-Luxembourg 13%, France 11%, UK 10%, Italy 6%), Central and Eastern Europe, US (1997)

Imports: $142 billion (f.o.b., 1998)
Commodities: machinery and transport equipment, chemicals, foodstuffs, fuels, consumer goods
Partners: EU 61% (Germany 21%, Belgium-Luxembourg 11%, UK 10%), US 9%, Central and Eastern Europe (1997)

Reserves of foreign exchange and gold

Debt external: $0

Stock of direct foreign investment at home

Stock of direct foreign investment abroad

Exchange rates: Netherlands guilders, gulden, or florins (f.) per US$1: 1.8904 (January 1999), 1.9837 (1998), 1.9513 (1997), 1.6859 (1996), 1.6057 (1995), 1.8200 (1994)
Note: on 1 January 1999, the European Union introduced a common currency that is now being used by financial institutions in some member countries at the rate of 0.8597 euros per US$ and a fixed rate of 2.20371 guilders per euro; the euro will replace the local currency in consenting countries for all transactions in 2002


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Electricity
Production: 83.3 billion kWh (1997)
Production by source fossil fuel: 94.51%
Production by source hydro: 0.1%
Production by source nuclear: 4.95%
Production by source other: 0.44% (1996)
Consumption: 90.366 billion kWh (1996)
Exports: 700 million kWh (1996)
Imports: 11.3 billion kWh (1996)

Coal

Petroleum

Crude oil

Refined petroleum

Natural gas

Carbon dioxide emissions

Energy consumption per capita


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Telephones: 8.431 million (1998 est.), 3.4 million cellular telephone subscribers (1998 est.)

Telephone system: highly developed and well maintained; system of multi-conductor cables gradually being supplemented/replaced by a glass-fiber based telecommunication infrastructure; Mobile GSM-based mobile telephony density rapidly growing; third generation Universal Mobile Telecommunications System expected for introduction by the year 2001
Domestic: nationwide cellular telephone system; microwave radio relay
International: 5 submarine cables; satellite earth stations_3 Intelsat (1 Indian Ocean and 2 Atlantic Ocean), 1 Eutelsat, and 1 Inmarsat (Atlantic and Indian Ocean Regions)

Broadcast media

Internet

Broadband fixed subscriptions


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Military expenditures
Dollar figure: $6.604 billion (FY97)
Percent of gdp: 2.1% (1995)

Military and security forces

Military service age and obligation

Space program

Terrorist groups


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National air transport system

Civil aircraft registration country code prefix

Airports: 28 (1998 est.)
With paved runways total: 19
With paved runways over 3047 m: 2
With paved runways 2438 to 3047 m: 7
With paved runways 15-24 to 2437 m: 6
With paved runways 914 to 1523 m: 3
With paved runways under 914 m: 1 (1998 est.)
With unpaved runways total: 9
With unpaved runways 914 to 1523 m: 3
With unpaved runways under 914 m: 6 (1998 est.)

Heliports: 1 (1998 est.)

Pipelines: crude oil 418 km; petroleum products 965 km; natural gas 10,230 km

Railways
Total: 2,813 km
Standard gauge: 2,813 km 1.435-m gauge; (1,991 km electrified) (1996)

Roadways

Waterways: 5,046 km, of which 47% is usable by craft of 1,000 metric ton capacity or larger

Merchant marine
Total: 510 ships (1,000 GRT or over) totaling 3,632,477 GRT/4,097,328 DWT
Ships by type: bulk 4, cargo 303, chemical tanker 42, combination bulk 1, container 52, liquefied gas tanker 17, livestock carrier 1, multifunction large-load carrier 9, oil tanker 24, passenger 8, refrigerated cargo 30, roll-on/roll-off cargo 12, short-sea passenger 3, specialized tanker 4
Note: many Dutch-owned ships are also operating under the registry of Netherlands Antilles (1998 est.)

Ports and terminals


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Disputes international: none

Refugees and internally displaced persons

Illicit drugs: important gateway for cocaine, heroin, and hashish entering Europe; major European producer of illicit amphetamines and other synthetic drugs